The Search
by smokeyicewolf
Summary: My fanfic beginning from the start of The Sacrifice, with my OC Alexis Crane.
1. Prologue

The Search, Prologue

"You sure there's nothing out there?"

"Yes, what else is new?"

Alexis Crane sighed as she put down her binoculars to brush some hair out of her eyes. One of her best friends since the disaster and the only reason she wasn't dying of boredom right now, Katie, laughed as she scanned the surrounding area they were checking.

"About two hours, and there hasn't been anything. Why did Ed even put us here?" Alexis complained as she picked up her binoculars again and looked around.

"Probably because he knew that we'd just spend half of our time talking and not concentrating on what we're supposed to be doing?"

"Fair enough..."

Alexis Crane was 14 now, a year after the disaster struck. She was pretty tall for her age, and had chestnut brown hair with electric blue streaks, and eyes that matched her streaks. She was an imaginative sort of a person, and really an all rounder- she was good at the Tower Guard job (when she was on her own...) but she was also a pretty good fighter out on the streets.

She sighed and continued to look across the surrounding area.

"Alexis! Katie!" The two girls turned around to see a boy walking towards them. It was only when he came closer that they realised it was Will.

"Jordan Hordern's calling a council of war," he said, sounding slightly out of breath. Alexis looked at Katie, who'd gone a little red around the ears. She suppressed a giggle, as she knew full well that Katie was completely obsessed with Will. She was constantly trying to drop hints and pair them up, which of course annoyed Katie, but she couldn't make out that she was too annoyed..

"So yeah, he says you've gotta come down to the White Tower now."

"But we're on duty..."

"Ed cleared it. It's fine, it won't take long!"

So the three of them filed down to the White Tower. There, they managed to find Rose, Alexis and Katie's other best mate, who was a member of the Service Corps. There, Will walked off to find his friends and the three girls filed into the room. They sat down at a bench, and quietly began to talk while they waited for everyone to finish filing in.

"So what do you think's up?" Alexis said in a low voice.

"Don't know, but it must have been pretty important if he needed us all here..." Katie replied.

"He'd better hurry up, I've got a casserole in the oven!" said Rose, impersonating a pensioner. The three of them laughed, before she continued "Do you think it's something to do with the new kids?"

"Don't know... but look, Jordan's arriving..."

The three girls sat on their bench while Jordan explained what was going on. Apparently, Brendan Eldridge had been charged with stealing food from the storerooms. Alexis was getting slightly fidgety, even though she was quite surprised and a bit horrified at what he'd done. She turned her attention back to the conversation, just as Jordan was saying "As I said. I think stealing food from other kids is as bad as murder." He drew out the pause. In Brendan's eyes, Alexis could see fear, anger-but mostly suspense, wondering what was going to happen.

Finally, Jordan's voice filled the hall again.

"So the sentence is death."


	2. Chapter 1

The Search, Chapter 1

Alexis was gobsmacked. She sat there, frozen, trying to comprehend what she'd just heard. Death? Jordan couldn't kill a kid... could he?

But then the whole place went mental. Brendan cried out and threw himself at Jordan, and all of a sudden kids were jumping out of their chairs, yelling, or just staying where they were, sat wide eyed, trying to understand what was happening. Brendan himself was swearing loudly and continuously at Jordan, who managed to throw him off with what seemed like a minute amount of effort. Then he flipped him over and pinned him to the ground and held his arm behind his back, which was obviously causing him an immense amount of pain. Eventually he got off him once Brendan begged him to stop. Brendan had dirt on his face and the area around his eyes and nose were red.

"Take him outside," said Jordan, with a sweep of his hands. Two of the guards flanking him tied up his hands and dragged him outside. Alexis turned to her friends. "This is mental!" she said.

"You don't think he's going to go through with it, do you?" replied Rose.

"He can't. If we start killing other kids..."

"Who knows what'll happen?" said Katie. "He might go back on it..."

Alexis snorted. "Fat chance. You know Jordan and so do I. Once he's made a decision he'll stick to it."

"Well, let's at least go outside to see what's going on..."

"Fine." Alexis walked towards the door and followed the direction most of the other kids had gone.

What was in that courtyard was shocking. Brendan was being pinned to a wooden block by Jordan himself, and Kyle looked like he'd volunteered to kill him, as he was swinging his axe around cheerfully and making kids either laugh or jump back and swear at him.

"Now be a man, Bren," Jordan said. "Don't struggle. Accept your punishment."

Tears were forming in Alexis's eyes. She'd never really talked to Brendan, but he had a lot of mates at the tower, and he'd never done anything to her. And this was so unfair, that Jordan thought he had to resort to murder.

"This isn't fair," Brendan was sobbing. "You can't do this."

"He's right." Ed stood between Kyle and Brendan. "You're not going to do this, Jordan..."

Alexis breathed out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Hear that? I told you he wouldn't kill him! In your face!" Katie said. Alexis made a disgruntled face, then stuck her tongue out and said "Yeah, but what IS he gonna do? He's not gonna let him off scot-free, that's for sure."

"Well, let's see what he is going to do... I'm getting quite nervous now..." said Rose.

They listened to what was going on just as Ed was saying "...Personally, I think Bren's been punished enough."

"What is it?" shouted Katie. "What are you going to do to him?"

Jordan thought about it, keeping calm while his face gave nothing away. Finally he let Brendan go and said "OK. Ed's asked me to be soft and this time I will be. But I want you all to remember this. The law's the law. We didn't make these rules for a joke. If you break them it's serious."

"What's the other punishment?" Katie repeated. "Tell us."

Jordan fixed her with his cool, clear eyes and spoke one word that filled the courtyard.

"Exile."


	3. Chapter 2

The Search, Chapter 2

"I can't believe he did it."

"He wasn't going to do nothing…"

Alexis, Katie and Rose were getting ready for bed in the Casemate they shared. They'd been staying awake talking for ages, and even now, when they were supposed to be asleep, they couldn't take their minds of what was happening. Not many people had gone to watch the exilation. Just Jordan, the captains of the groups and Brendan's mates. Nobody else. This was too upsetting. For a while, everyone had felt safe behind the stone walls of the tower. Seeing Brendan being kicked out had upset quite a lot of kids. Alexis sighed as she thought about this.

"Anyway… should we be getting to bed..?" Katie said, trailing off at the end of the sentence.

"Yeah." Alexis waved to her friends and bounded upstairs. Her bedroom was at the top of the Casemate. She preferred it there. Was a place she could go to get away.

As she lay in bed she couldn't get Brendan's exilation out of her head. She wished something would happen around her so she could get back out on the streets. It was a bit monotonous in the Tower, and she hadn't left in ages. There was no action. Ever. Yes. That was why she wanted to leave.

_Violet._

No, brain, no, shut up, _shut up! _

_It's your fault she's gone. It's your fault she's probably dead…_

She'd been trying to forget her. but her brain wouldn't let it go.

_You want to find her. But you never will..._

Violet Crane. Her little sister. The sister who she'd got separated from at The Battle of Lambeth Bridge. She'd had to run, and take her sister with her, but her sister had got snatched away. By a sicko. A sicko with blue jeans that were filthy and a top so ripped it seemed impossible she was wearing it. The last time she'd seen Violet, she'd been trying to get away. Her chestnut hair falling over her face and she was screaming, crying out in fright. Her eyes glinting and glistening in fear.

_Alexis! ALEXIS!_

_Violet..._

Some kids had been trying to rescue her, and then she'd been gone. Her line of sight had been broken. There was a bunch of kids dragging her away, while she was kicking and screaming for her sister.

She'd been trying to forget her. She'd had to assume she was dead. Before she could stop herself, hot tears were suddenly pouring down her face and she muffled her face in her pillow to keep herself from howling. Eventually she gave up. She curled up into a ball in the middle of the bed and cried for what seemed like forever until she fell asleep, horrible memories swirling around in her head.


End file.
